Recent years have seen a rapid growth in new telecommunication services and related products. One field of new services and products relates to cellular mobile radiotelephones ("CMRs"), which permit a large number of users to simultaneously communicate through the Public Switched Telephone Network ("PSTN") without being tied to the PSTN through electrical wiring. Thus, customers of cellular services have enjoyed the benefits of telecommunication services at times when they would otherwise be inaccessible.
CMRs incorporate a family of products which provide cellular telecommunication services. Many of these products are designed for permanent installation in an automobile or at a remote location. However, CPTs differ because they are designed to be carried by a cellular customer, much like any other portable radio. Consequently, CPTs can also provide a cellular customer with telecommunication services when the customer is not located near automobiles or such remote locations.
Of course, each of the cellular products, when coupled to the associated cellular services, requires a substantial investment. Moreover, cellular products are typically used in connection with a particular cellular system or service area with which they are registered. Consequently, many activities, which are of a temporary nature or perhaps remote to a home cellular system, do not benefit from telecommunication services because the temporary or remote nature of such activities discourages the investment required to obtain a cellular product and service.
The rental of CPTs addresses many of these problems. A CPT does not require permanent installation, and a CPT may be carried to remote locations. Thus, a rental arrangement serves temporary activity and remote location activity needs. In addition, a rental arrangement requires a much smaller investment on the part of a customer for telecommunication services. An organization wishing to rent CPTs to the public could simply purchase a number of CPTs, arrange telecommunication services for each of the purchased CPTs, and rent the CPTs using systems and procedures similar to the ones commonly used by rental organizations. However, this is an inefficient use of cellular telecommunication resources, and such a rental system requires customers to pay excessive rental fees.
On the other hand, an efficient system for the rental of CPTs requires a greater amount of complexity, organization and management when compared to the rental of other products. For example, the telecommunication services for the rental CPTs can be established or registered with an appropriate cellular system or management organization only during a rental transaction, and then unregistered or cancelled upon return of a rented CPT. This dynamic registering scheme allows efficient allocation of telecommunication services to only those CPTs which are currently being rented. In addition, the rented CPTs must be easily and quickly identifiable to insure that returned CPTs are the same ones that were rented. However, such a system, if not significantly automated, requires a large amount of management overhead, which would again force CPT rental customers to pay excessive rental fees.
During registration, CPTs are programmed to store a mobile identification number ("MID"), which represents the phone number assigned to the CPT. Additionally, the CPTs are programmed to store a system identification number ("SID") which identifies the particular cellular system with which the CPT is a subscriber. Moreover, the CPTs store, in an unalterable form, an electronic serial number ("ESN") which uniquely identifies the CPT. Conventional CPTs cannot successfully operate in connection with an automated registration and cancellation procedure because signals required to program and read such information are inaccessible from outside the conventional CPT. Consequently, a need exists for an apparatus which adapts a CPT transceiver for use in connection with an automated check-out and check-in system.